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Friday, December 5, 2014

Formation Fridays: John Bunyan

For today’s Formation Friday, I
highlight John Bunyan. I have read only one of his works, his most famous, The Pilgrim’s Progress, though I hope to
read his other works soon. My information and wording of this post is heavily
relied upon by the research and writing of Tim Challies, a brother and warrior
for the faith. He blogs regularly at challies.com I encourage you to check out
his book reviews and articles.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing
about John Bunyan was his unusual ability to preach and teach. It is recorded
that King Charles II once asked John Owen (another important Puritan that we
could learn so much from) why he listened to Bunyan, an uneducated tinker, to
which Owen replied, “Could I possess the tinker’s abilities for preaching,
please your Majesty, I would gladly relinquish all my learning.”

John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress and undoubtedly the most
famous Puritans save for maybe Johnathan Edwards, was born on November 28, 1628
in Bedfordshire, England. His father,Thomas
earned his living as a chapman and as a brass worker. As was custom in their
day, John was expected to take over the family business. In 1644, Bunyan turned
16, but it was not a sweet 16. It was a very sad and eventful year for the
Bunyan family: in June, Bunyan lost his mother and, in July, his sister
Margaret died. Following this, within two months, his father married (for the
third time) to Anne Pinney and a half-brother, Charles, was born. John Bunyan
soon left to join the Parliamentary Army.

After two and a half years in the
army, Bunyan returned home to take up the work of a tinker (an itinerant
metalworker). Before long he was married, and his new wife brought into the
relationship two books God used to convict him of his sin: The Plain Man’s
Pathway to Heaven by Arthur Dent and The Practice of Piety by Lewis
Bayly. According to his autobiography, these books convicted Bunyan to cease
his swearing, which must have been a particular vice of his, and took up
regular attendance at a church.

Through the influence of some godly
women in the church, the preaching of pastor John Gifford, and the writing of
Martin Luther (especially his commentary on Galatians), Bunyan came to a real
and saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and was baptized in 1653.

Before long Bunyan began preaching
in small circles and discovered his gift for teaching. Soon he was formally
appointed as a lay preacher and began preaching more regularly. Around the same
time he published his first work, Some Gospel Truths Opened, written in
opposition to the teaching of the Quakers, and thus began what would become his
most fruitful and enduring ministry: writing books.

His first wife passed away in 1655
leaving him four children, the oldest of whom, Mary, was blind from birth.
Bunyan married again in 1659 to Elizabeth who would bear him two
more children.

Bunyan was arrested in 1660 for
preaching without a license. As the story goes, when told that he would be
freed if he stopped preaching, he responded, “If I am freed today, I will
preach tomorrow.” Bunyan would spend the next twelve and a half years
behind bars for this conviction, supporting his family by making countless shoelaces
for them to sell.

After his release from jail in 1672,
Bunyan became pastor of the nonconformist congregation of Bedford from which he
staged a wider ministry throughout England. During this time he earned the
playful title “Bishop Bunyan.” During another brief stint in jail in 1675
Bunyan wrote his most remembered title, The Pilgrim’s Progress, which he
then published in 1678.

The Pilgrim's Progress

Perhaps, for us today we should look
upon Bunyan’s life with questions for our own lives. Would we be willing, as
Bunyan was so willing, to live out our conviction of Christ’s love, grace, and
authority that we would go to jail rather than be silent?

Bunyan threw it all away so that he “could
know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.”
Being willing to “suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or
another experience the resurrection from the dead!” (Philippians 3:10-11)

When I think of John Bunyan I think
of the Apostles Peter and John, of Paul and Silas, of those in prisons across
the globe that are suffering incarceration for the sake of the Gospel.

To be frank, unless we have that
same heart and mind, that same willingness, a good question that we should ask
is whether we have truly given Christ everything?

In 1688, while in London on a
preaching trip, Bunyan was overtaken with fever and died on August 31. He
was 59.

Famous Quotes to think about:

“You have not lived today until you
have done something for someone who can never repay you.”

“In prayer it is better to have a
heart without words than words without a heart.”

“I will stay in prison till the moss
grows on my eye lids rather than disobey God.”

“Dark clouds bring waters, when the
bright bring none.”

“Pray often, for prayer is a shield
to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.”

Most
Important Works:

Obviously his most important work,
and the one every Christian should at least try to read, is The Pilgrim’s Progress. In Meet the Puritans
Beeke and Pederson say it is “The best of Bunyan and a perfect pictorial
index to the Puritan understanding of the Christian life.”

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners - “An indispensable source for Bunyan’s early life and
conversion, this autobiographical classic chronicles his life from infancy to
his imprisonment in 1660.”

The Holy War - Another allegory by
Bunyan, considered second only in quality to The Pilgrim’s Progress. It
“is more difficult to read but is also more profound in places … because it
involves several levels of allegory.”